Charlie Sheen is an actor, right? I've heard his name for years, but I don't know if he's movies or TV. He must be pretty good, I suppose, if he's been around this long. Drugs keep getting mentioned, so the more accurate diagnosis wood be substance-induced mood disorder. I'm assuming he's quite liberal, because the tone of criticism is different than it was for Mel Gibson.
The sports radio guys were talking about some recent meltdown he's been having, and were laughing over his quotes. Welcome to my world. I went back and forth between being bored - I have heard a lot of bipolar guys talk like this - and embarrassed for him and the people laughing at him. Our new admission this morning had a similar presentation. Not all people going through mania are so entertaining, I suppose, but this type of conversation flows naturally from the tangentiality and expansive feelings of mania. It's like laughing at the crippled kid.
If he didn't have oodles of money this whole picture would look different.
So, this is the unofficial mental health awareness week.
I don't have your background in mental health, but listening to bits of Mr. Sheen's rants brought this phrase to mind: "self-justifying."
ReplyDeleteSelf justification has always seemed to me to be a hallmark of those struggling with some kind of addiction or mental illness.
"I'm not messed up. I'm just more (sensitive, aware, passionate, intelligent, etc) than you are."
As for your comment re: laughing at the crippled kid -- well said. I looked at Sheen and thought it's funny, but really it's not funny. He is clearly incredibly intelligent, but the rest of his nervous system is clearly uncalibrated and oscillating dangerously. My unprofessional diagnosis is that the man is about to implode and it won't be pretty.
I wish him well.